New XMLTV Import Tool

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by jmonier

I've tried everything I can think of to keep episode numbers out of the show description.../... <episodenum_decoration value="False" />. Have I missed something obvious?

This will work but only for new content. Already imported shows will not drop the ep.number unless you delete all the content in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\SageTV XMLTV Importer\GuideData folder.

Once this folder is empty you can import your guide data again, and force the update into SageTV.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[jmonier]

Thanks, that did the trick.

It did appear, however, that new content at the end of the guide that I imported last night still had the episode numbers. Could it be that it will use the episode numbers until it has a completely blank slate to work with?

In any case, it might avoid more questions of this sort if the FAQ was updated in this area. Right now it's very unclear and I had to go all the way through this thread to get the info to get even as far as I did.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by jmonier

It did appear, however, that new content at the end of the guide that I imported last night still had the episode numbers. Could it be that it will use the episode numbers until it has a completely blank slate to work with?

It only means that this show wasn't imported today (the Importer doesn't import out of air programs). So you see what was currently imported last night (if you really want to get rid of it, you have to delete your current wiz.bin)

In any case, it might avoid more questions of this sort if the FAQ was updated in this area. Right now it's very unclear and I had to go all the way through this thread to get the info to get even as far as I did.

Well a FAQ is a FAQ, your question is not a frequently asked one (even though there is a FAQ about hidden options, it's not really a FAQ, I put it here to not include it in the documentation so as those hidden options remain hidden...).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[jerryt]

Sorry I am very new with Sage,

Trying to import the XML EPG line up from DVBdream with this tool. Everything worked fine and the EPG data came into Sage. But I created a problem; the DVBdream network encoder shows DVBdream in Sage as a "Digital Tuner" and after I got the XML data to import, I realized that my other digital OTA tuners had both quit. When I select a channel from the guide which is OTA, I get "No encoder can tune this channel".

Can someone explain what I am doing wrong?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by jerryt

after I got the XML data to import, I realized that my other digital OTA tuners had both quit. When I select a channel from the guide which is OTA, I get "No encoder can tune this channel".

If you have three tuners, you may have to use more than one XMLTV Lineups.

You need a different lineups if your video source doesn't share the same exact channel list.

For instance :

* DVBDream lineup to go with the DVBDream encoder
* OTA Digital lienup to go with your OTA Tuners

If your lineups share common channels you can, when you create the lineups, duplicate these channels from a lineup to another one. When you do so you have to create the duplicate with the same channel ID, so as SageTV will see those channels are the same and as such will only list one of these channels in the guide.

Note: In SageTV you can mix XMLTV Lineup and SageTV native lineups, but this is something I wouldn't recommend. So make sure you use XMLTV guide data for all your video sources.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[planetc]

Thankyou Stephane for your efforts here. I will have had a sage setup for 3 years this summer, which was demoted to serving music and video only after I moved house 18 months ago. I recently decided to rebuild the system and thanks to you and MadAxeMan with his digiguide script I have a decent uk epg. Also thanks to one of your posts I have managed to get prologic 2 working for my tv viewing, which was something I had spent hours on previously.

A very big thankyou, I will definately become a donator as funds allow!

regards P.

[Nick_W]

Hi Stéphane,

Could you please post two programs of XML data with all the fields that your processor can process (rating, age etc.).

I'm considering taking on the DigiGuide grabber, as not much seems to be happening with it at the moment, and I wanted to make sure I was exporting as much relevant data as possible.

TIA,

Nick.

[planetc]

I may be wrong Nick, but I seem to remember that the birtles radio times grabber does ratings info, you could try that for reference?

[Nick_W]

Originally Posted by planetc

I may be wrong Nick, but I seem to remember that the birtles radio times grabber does ratings info, you could try that for reference?

I have done ratings already. I need to know what ALL the possible fields are, as there are quite a few that are not currently mapped.

Regards,

Nick.

[StephaneM]

Hi Nick,

Originally Posted by Nick_W

Could you please post two programs of XML data with all the fields that your processor can process (rating, age etc.).

Here are the supported nodes for the Importer:

* title
* sub-title
* desc
* date (this is for realisation year)
* category
* language
* orig-language
* episode-num (system = xmltv_ns or onscreen)
* video (aspect : 4:3 or 16:9 / quality: SDTV or HDTV)
* audio (stereo or dolby digital)
* previously-shown
* premiere
* rating
* star-rating
* credits (actor / director / writer / adapter / presenter / commentator / guest)

Here is a sample :

    <programme start="20080419051500 +0100" stop="20080419070500 +0100" channel="canalplus.fr" clumpidx="0/1">
        <title lang="fr">Les témoins</title>
        <desc lang="fr">Dans les années 80, à Paris. Tandis que l'épidémie de sida gagne du terrain, un jeune homme noue une amitié avec un couple et un médecin quinquagénaire.Été 1984. Manu débarque à Paris dans l'espoir d'y trouver un travail. Il commence par retrouver sa soeur Julie, chanteuse lyrique qui rêve d'opéra. Au cours de ses périgrinations dans la capitale, Manu fait la rencontre d'Adrien, un médecin quinquagénaire cultivé, avec qui il noue une chaste amitié. Grâce à lui, Manu élargit son cercle d'amis. Au cours d'une balade en bateau, il est ainsi présenté à Sarah et Mehdi, un jeune couple qui vient d'avoir son premier enfant. Mehdi est policier, Sarah écrit des livres pour enfants. Au sein de ce groupe, les passions naissent, tandis que les rumeurs enflent au sujet d'une nouvelle maladie, inconnue et meurtrière : le sida...</desc>
        <credits>
            <actor>Johan Libéreau</actor>
            <actor>Julie Depardieu</actor>
            <actor>Michel Blanc</actor>
            <actor>Emmanuelle Béart</actor>
            <actor>Sami Bouajila</actor>
            <actor>Constance Dollé</actor>
            <actor>Lorenzo Balducci</actor>
            <actor>Alain Cauchi</actor>
            <actor>Raphaëline Goupilleau</actor>
            <actor>Jacques Nolot</actor>
            <actor>Xavier Beauvois</actor>
            <actor>Maïa Simon</actor>
            <director>André Téchiné</director>
        </credits>
        <date>2007</date>
        <category lang="fr">Film Drame</category>
        <rating system="CSA">
            <value>Déconseillé -10 ans</value>
        </rating>
        <rating system="MPAA">
            <value>PG</value>
        </rating>
        <audio>
            <stereo>dolby digital</stereo>
        </audio>
        <video>
            <aspect>16:9</aspect>
            <quality>SDTV</quality>
        </video>
    </programme>

Another one

    <programme start="20080420102000 +0100" stop="20080420111500 +0100" channel="canalplusconfort.fr" clumpidx="0/1">
        <title lang="fr">Les Tudors</title>
        <sub-title lang="fr">La grande suette</sub-title>
        <desc lang="fr">Une terrible épidémie décime la population : on compte sir William Compton parmi les victimes. Henry, de son côté, fait de lady Anne sa maîtresse officielle.Le royaume d'Angleterre est frappé par une redoutable épidémie. Et les médecins semblent impuissants à contrer la maladie qui fait des ravages au sein de la population. La cour n'est pas épargnée. Sir William Compton décède brutalement. Bien que préoccupé par la situation, Henri VIII demeure vivement contrarié par ses problèmes conjugaux. Une nouvelle fois, le cardinal Wosley essaie de satisfaire son souverain. Il envoie deux avocats en Italie, les chargeant de convaincre le pape de prononcer le divorce. Mais débloquer la situation du roi d'Angleterre pourrait créer un fâcheux précédent, aux yeux de l'Eglise catholique. Pendant ce temps, la reine tente de s'assurer du soutien de son neveu, l'empereur Charles...</desc>
        <credits>
            <actor>Jonathan RHYS-MEYERS</actor>
            <actor>Sam NEIL</actor>
            <actor>Jeremy NORTHAM</actor>
            <actor>Maria DOYLE KENNEDY</actor>
            <actor>Henry CAVILL</actor>
            <actor>Nick DUNNING</actor>
            <actor>Jonathan Rhys Meyers</actor>
            <actor>Sam Neill</actor>
            <actor>Henry Cavill</actor>
            <actor>Ian McElhinney</actor>
            <actor>Natalie Dormer</actor>
            <actor>Maria Doyle Kennedy</actor>
            <actor>Gabrielle Anwar</actor>
            <actor>Jeremy Northam</actor>
            <director>Alison MacLean</director>
        </credits>
        <category lang="fr">Série/Feuilleton &gt; Historique</category>
        <date>2007</date>
        <episode-num system="xmltv_ns">.6.0/1</episode-num>
        <rating system="CSA">
            <value>Déconseillé -12 ans</value>
        </rating>
        <rating system="MPAA">
            <value>PG-13</value>
        </rating>
        <audio>
            <stereo>dolby digital</stereo>
        </audio>
        <video>
            <aspect>16:9</aspect>
            <quality>SDTV</quality>
        </video>

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Nick_W]

That's great, thanks

[Nick_W]

Hi Stephane,

Here's a few records:

- <programme channel="200" start="20080419180000 +0000" stop="20080419183000 +0000">
  <title>M.I. High</title> 
  <desc>Children's spy drama. MI9 become suspicious when Britain's famously peace-loving Prime Minister declares World War III. Daisy goes undercover and discovers that the Prime Minister has been replaced by a cyber-clone. The evil Grand Master is in cahoots with the Guinea-pig, a disgraced scientist. Together they are using the fake Prime Minister to seize control of Britain. Can the divided team come together to defeat the cyber-clone and stop the war?</desc> 
  <category>Kids Drama</category> 
  <length units="minutes">30</length> 
  <episode-num system="xmltv_ns">0.0.</episode-num> 
  <sub-title>The Sinister Prime Minister</sub-title> 
- <video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
  </video>
  <date>2007</date> 
- <credits>
  <director>Toby Haynes</director> 
  <actor>Bel Powley</actor> 
  <actor>Moustafa Chousein-Oglou</actor> 
  <actor>Rachel Petladwala</actor> 
  <actor>Danny John-Jules</actor> 
  <actor>Jane Cameron</actor> 
  <actor>Chris Stanton</actor> 
  </credits>
  </programme>
- <programme channel="200" start="20080419183000 +0000" stop="20080419190000 +0000">
  <title>M.I. High</title> 
  <desc>Children's spy drama. School spies Rose and Daisy's relationship gets frosty as Britian is plunged into a new ice age. A school trip to the Weather Bureau provides cover for MI9's investigations. When Sonya Frost failed to predict a huge gale, she built a weather machine - to accurately forecast weather of her creation! But the Grand Master has a more destructive plan - to freeze the world into submission! Can Daisy get Sonya on side and will our team remain ice-cool as the action hots up?</desc> 
  <category>Kids Drama</category> 
  <length units="minutes">30</length> 
  <episode-num system="xmltv_ns">0.2.</episode-num> 
  <sub-title>The Big Freeze</sub-title> 
- <video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
  </video>
  <date>2007</date> 
- <credits>
  <director>Toby Haynes</director> 
  <actor>Bel Powley</actor> 
  <actor>Moustafa Chousein-Oglou</actor> 
  <actor>Danny John-Jules</actor> 
  <actor>Jane Cameron</actor> 
  <actor>Chris Stanton</actor> 
  <actor>Simon Kunz</actor> 
  </credits>
  </programme>
- <programme channel="200" start="20080419190000 +0000" stop="20080419190500 +0000">
  <title>A Little Later</title> 
  <desc>Classic performance from Later... with Jools Holland. Robbie Williams performs his No.1 single Tripping from November 2005.</desc> 
  <category>Music</category> 
  <length units="minutes">5</length> 
  <sub-title>Robbie Williams</sub-title> 
- <video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
  </video>
- <audio>
  <stereo>dolby digital</stereo> 
  </audio>
  <credits /> 
  </programme>
- <programme channel="200" start="20080419190500 +0000" stop="20080419200500 +0000">
  <title>I'd Do Anything</title> 
  <desc>Graham Norton presents as Andrew Lloyd Webber searches for the nation's Nancy and Oliver to star in the West End production. The nine remaining Nancys battle it out for the public vote, watched closely by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the expert panel. Plus, the young Olivers return for another performance and the next lucky boy goes into the semi-final.</desc> 
  <category>Reality Show</category> 
  <length units="minutes">60</length> 
  <sub-title /> 
- <video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
  </video>
  <credits /> 
  </programme>
- <programme channel="200" start="20080419200500 +0000" stop="20080419203500 +0000">
  <title>After You've Gone</title> 
  <desc>Sitcom about a jack-of-all-trades. After a visit to the hospital, Jimmy reveals feelings no-one knew he had - least of all Jimmy.</desc> 
  <category>Sitcom</category> 
  <length units="minutes">30</length> 
  <episode-num system="xmltv_ns">1.6.</episode-num> 
  <sub-title>Just Say No</sub-title> 
- <video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
  </video>
- <credits>
  <actor>Nicholas Lyndhurst</actor> 
  <actor>Celia Imrie</actor> 
  <actor>Amanda Abbington</actor> 
  <actor>Dani Harmer</actor> 
  <actor>Ryan Sampson</actor> 
  </credits>
  </programme>
- <programme channel="200" start="20080419203500 +0000" stop="20080419205000 +0000">
  <title>A Little Later</title> 
  <desc>Classic appearances by female artists on Later with Jools Holland, featuring Amy Winehouse, Cat Power, Bjork and Corinne Bailey Rae.</desc> 
  <category>Music</category> 
  <length units="minutes">15</length> 
  <sub-title /> 
- <video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
  </video>
- <audio>
  <stereo>dolby digital</stereo> 
  </audio>
  <credits /> 
  </programme>

Do they look OK to you?

Regards,

Nick.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Nick_W

Do they look OK to you?

Yes, though :

<video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
</video>

will not work

instead use:

<video>
  <quality>HDTV</quality> 
</video>

or

<video>
    <hd>Yes</hd>
</video>

[cortechs]

Hello,

Is there something to do to force the importer to reload an xml file so I can see the changes in the "edit channel" window ? I'm not talking about the Import button here but the place where you pair your channels' number with the channels' name in the xml file.

I recently changed my xml lineup and some channels were gone missing.
I tried running the wizard again but it works, after many tries, only with my 1st xml (TNT) and not the 2nd (SAT).

Any insight about this problem ?

Regards,

Cortechs.

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by cortechs

Is there something to do to force the importer to reload an xml file so I can see the changes in the "edit channel" window?

No, the Importer always load the XMLTV files to extract channels / ratings and categories.

So if channels are missing and the Importer didn't complain about XMLTV file being corrupted, then it's because the XMLTV file doesn't contains the expected channels.

Something useful to know about : to speed up the Import process the XMLTV Importer will always check that a channel node can be found in the XMLTV file before trying to get programs for this channel (searching the whole XMLTV file for program belonging to a channel is an expensive operation).

Also the Wizard only support one XMLTV file (though if you had used the Classical UI and reverted to the wizard it should not remove the 2nd XMLTV file). So cancel the Wizard (by checking the "do not show..." checkbox) and relaunch the Importer to use the classical UI (in a brand new version of the Importer there will be a major UI change to ease the whole config process).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Nick_W]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Yes, though :

<video>
  <quality>HD</quality> 
</video>

will not work

instead use:

<video>
  <quality>HDTV</quality> 
</video>

or

<video>
    <hd>Yes</hd>
</video>

OK, will use HDTV.

Thanks Stephane.

[cortechs]

Hello,

Thanks Stéphane ... There actually was something wrong with my xml grabber. Your advice helped me troubleshoot that.

Regards,

Cortechs.

[Madcoder]

It seems that if you use the advanced settings file to disable adding star ratings to the program titles, the importer stops importing the star rating at all. I do not want the star ratings in the titles at all, as it breaks favorite recordings for me due to my star ratings coming from a site where user input drives the star ratings, which can therefore change over time. I also do not like the idea on principle that the star rating would be in the title. When I disable the behavior in the advanced file, the star ratings also disappear from the show description area in Sage. Before I was using the Demideus importer, and this was not a problem. I am a donating supporter, can I get this fixed, or is it something I am doing wrong?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Madcoder

It seems that if you use the advanced settings file to disable adding star ratings to the program titles, the importer stops importing the star rating at all.

Star ratings are only used for decorating the title. I guess that other plugins are using the "MiscList" property for this (I only use this property to add video and sound format)

I am a donating supporter, can I get this fixed

This will be added, though it will take some time as I'm currently rewriting the Importer with a brand new interface.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Madcoder]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Star ratings are only used for decorating the title. I guess that other plugins are using the "MiscList" property for this (I only use this property to add video and sound format)

This will be added, though it will take some time as I'm currently rewriting the Importer with a brand new interface.

Regards,
Stéphane.

That sounds great, thanks. One interesting thing is that SageMC can sort upcoming movies by their star rating as one of the view options. It would be important that whatever internal Sage attribute you map these stars to is the same one SageMC uses.